Are the Liberals dying a slow death with Ignatieff?

Dying a slow death? Well, you could make a good case for that. But I recall the punditry discussing the slow death of Liberal leader Jean Chretien in the early 1990s -- too old, out of touch, old fashioned interventionist Liberal (little did they know!) fractured English, didn't 'look' like a leader, and...

Ignatieff has performed badly to date. But the vast majority of the public won't be paying attention until there's a real election, a real one, not the phony war we've been enduring for the last month. Iggy's performance in that event will either hasten his death or give his leadership a new lease on life.

Ignatieff's problem is that he has no real qualms with Harper's policies and failed ideology so what does he criticize? How does he draw a clear distinction on national issues? He can't. So he comes across like a back seat driver yelling "slow down, look our for that, keep your eyes on the road," rather than as a leader with a vision and direction of his own. Lots of intellect but no intelligence.

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We'd better be careful here. If Igg teeters too close to the precipice he "might even have to engage in certain forms of targeted assassination". Careful Jack.

See

http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/07/17/%E2%80%98bogus%E2%80%99-peacekeeping/

Thanks SCB4

Quote:

Yet Michael Ignatieff, Harvard professor and public intellectual, was once slightly more harsh toward his native land. Following a 2005 lecture at the University of Dublin’s Trinity College, Ignatieff excoriated Canadians for trading on Canada’s “entirely bogus reputation as peacekeepers” for 40 years and for favouring “hospitals and schools and roads” over international citizenship. “If you are a human rights defender and you want something done to stop [a] massacre, you have to go to the Pentagon, because no one else is serious,” Ignatieff said.

“It’s disgusting in my own country, and I love my country, Canada, but they would rather bitch about their rich neighbour to the south than actually pay the note,” he said, in response to a question about peacekeeping. “To pay the bill to be an international citizen is not something that they want to do.”

So it seems he is into gratuitous attacks against Canadians considering:

Quote:

However, Canada remains one of the UN’s largest contributors of international, professional and general service staff, and is the eighth largest contributor to the UN’s total peacekeeping budget, according to UN figures.)

And moreover, wth is wrong with our wanting hospitals and schools?

Mr.Canada_ts wrote:

Plus many people, including myself like ol' Smilin' Jack Layton even if I find his same song tiring at times he certainly is entertaining and is never at a loss for words.

"It worked before, its tried and true and nothing new."

It seems only those in the east buy into this eating their own Liberal vomit, in majority, which is too bad.

Iggy's trouble is that Harper keeps saying "Abracadabra" at the most inopportune moments

The At Issue panel was actually more subtle than that, Debater.  They did agree that Layton lost credibility in the short term - but that the scenario "has not played out yet" and that Iggy has much more to lose over the medium-term than Layton does.  Chantal's column earlier in the thread speaks to this issue - Harper has surged to close-to-majority status from a dead-heat position in the polls in the last 3 weeks, due almost entirely to Iggy's abysmal strategic moves and poor performance in QP, lack of engagement on the major issues like the economy, mushy TV ads with no focus, etc. 

On Layton, the reality is the NDP now has the balance of power, we stopped an election that nobody wanted, and (depending on how much pressure Layton and the caucus bring to bear) we will hopefully be able to point to real progress on key issues like EI and pensions and climate change when the election does come, likely in spring 2010.  Yes, Jack will take a big media hit this week for supporting Harper after blasting the Libs for so long over the "79 votes in a row"...but that's all inside Ottawa navel-gazing.  Nobody but rabidly partisan political junkies and babblers follows that kind of inter-party trash talk anymore.

On the Libs, they are ramping up for an election that isn't happening, Iggy is rambling on about the G20 Secretariat and other non-priority matters, they voted against the most popular tax break in decades with the home reno tax credit, they have no message and no clear rationale for bringing down the government.  They have zero influence over the government now and will get less and less profile as the NDP and BQ positioning becomes critical to the government' survival.

I would never say the Libs are "dying" slowly or otherwise.  As long as they have a lock on the GTA, Anglo Montreal and most of Atlantic Canada, they will beat the NDP every time no matter how low they sink.  I do think there will be a major internal upheaval within the LPC if Harper gets a strong minority or a majority next election, which I think is the most likely outcome (strong minority, that is).  They will have lost 3 elections in a row with 3 different leaders and there is no obvious successor to Iggy in the wings.

Bottom line: beyond the short term pundit feeding frenzy this week, I'd much rather be Layton than Iggy in the current climate, for the reasons outlined above.